It is well known in the food industry that the addition of flavoring ingredients contribute to a major extent to the palatability of consumable edible materials; consequently, it is paramount to ensure the production of food products which are of consistent flavor quality and are thus attractive to consumers. This can be achieved by ensuring proper flavor stability release. In effect, taste and aroma are greatly influenced by volatile components present in such products. However, because of the volatility of these compounds, it is not easy to ensure that the predetermined critical amounts of each flavor components be present in the food end products as they reach the consumer. Losses of volatile components might occur during storage prior to incorporation into the food product, during mixing of the flavor component with the other food ingredients, during food processing, cooking, baking, during transportation and storage and finally during the preparation of the food product by the consumer himself through, for instance, reheating or microwaving.
These losses of volatile components from the food products may produce undesirable variations in the taste and aroma of the products as perceived by the consumer. On the other hand, losses of volatile components might occur through the conversion of certain flavor materials into unwanted less desirable or tasteless chemicals by their interaction with reagents present in the environment. Oxygen is an example of this type of reagents as it promotes the conversion of several labile flavor materials of current and critical utilization in the industry.
It is not surprising therefore to observe that, in order to reduce or eliminate the afore-mentioned problems associated with volatile and labile flavor components, various attempts have been made to encapsulate such components in certain carbohydrate matrices so as to reduce the volatility or lability of the components. This results in the preparation of stable free flowing powders containing the flavor compositions for later flavor release when incorporated into the food products or when the food product is eventually consumed.
Typical examples of flavor fixation on carbohydrate matrices are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,314,803; 3,554,768 and 3,736,149. These patents are mainly concerned with the problem associated with the stability of acetaldehyde in different flavor systems. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,768 suggests the use of lactose, lactose-maltose, larch-gum, tapioca dextrin and gum Arabic as matrices for encapsulation of acetaldehyde by the method of spray-drying.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,149 discloses flavoring compositions which comprise a flavoring agent including acetaldehyde fixed in a matrix material containing lactose, a hydrocolloid gum and a starch hydrolysate.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,809,895 describes a process for encapsulation of an essential oil, such as lemon, lime or grapefruit oils, in a matrix comprising corn syrup, antioxidant and dispersing agent. The essential oil, antioxidant and dispersing agent are added to the corn syrup, the resultant mixture is heated to 85.degree.-125.degree. C. and agitated or extruded to form an emulsion in pellet form, and the resulting particles are washed with a solvent and finally dried.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,137 describes an essential oil composition formed by mixing oil with an antioxidant, separately mixing water, sucrose and hydrolyzed cereal solids with DE below 20, emulsifying the two mixtures together, extruding the resulting mixture in the form of rods into a solvent, removing the excess solvent and finally, adding an anti-caking agent.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,890 and 4,707,367 describe a process for preparing a solid essential oil composition having a high content of the essential oil, which composition is prepared by forming an aqueous solution containing a sugar, a starch hydrolysate and an emulsifier. The essential oil is blended with the aqueous solution in a closed vessel under controlled pressure to form a homogeneous melt, which is then extruded into a relatively cold solvent, dried and combined with an anti-caking agent.
The above-mentioned patents are merely illustrative of the considerable volume of patent literature related to the fixation of flavor ingredients in various matrices.
A problem encountered in prior art compositions is the hygroscopic nature of the resulting matrices. It is important in fact that the matrix do not come into contact with water because this would result in its solubilisation or plasticization with subsequent escape of the volatile components from the matrix. This phenomenon implies that special precautions should apply to the handling of carbohydrate matrices to avoid plasticization by atmospheric moisture.
In addition, another problem encountered in prior art compositions relates to the cariogenic nature of some of the matrices suggested.
The present invention provides particulate flavor compositions with improved characteristics and a method of producing same.